How US airstrikes are affecting Moscow's Syria policy
A central goal of Russia's Syria policy is to relegitimize the Syrian regime in the eyes of the United States and its allies in the region, and oblige them to recognize it as an ally in the fight against extremism.
Nowadays, skepticism is growing among Russians about the likelihood that the United States and its coalition allies can put an end to the Islamic State (IS) with airstrikes alone, as is alarm at the increasing number of citizens from several Arab countries and members of Islamist organizations who sympathize with the caliphate project.
IS practice tells us in increasingly convincing terms that we are dealing with a state-building project, rather than just the conspiracy of fanatics. As it is known, the number of Islamist organizations that have joined or merged with IS has already passed the dozen mark. The most serious in this series of declarations of allegiance is that of the Taliban leadership, which suggests a de facto extension of IS jurisdiction to Pakistan and Afghanistan. This is not just a franchise, like al-Qaeda.
Another disturbing though expected twist is IS’ intention, declared on Sept. 22, to carry out terrorist acts outside the states that have been its theater of operations until now, namely Iraq and Syria. According to Charles Lister, "Islamic State’s advances across Iraq and its expansion in northern and eastern Syria have placed it in control of territory stretching at least 680 kilometers (423 miles). Its focus on controlling resources means it now earns between $1.5 million and $2 million per day."
Heated debates continue in the Russian media around events in the Middle East. On an Echo of Moscow blog, Georgy Mirsky — a well-known critic of Moscow’s Syria policy — writes of "Syrian perfidy" manifesting itself in a declaration by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem. He writes: "The Syrian government, for whose sake Russia has done absolutely everything — from vetoing UN Security Council resolutions one after another to preventing a US bombing campaign via sly maneuvers with chemical weapons — this same [Bashar al-] Assad government forgets everything and treacherously enters into an alliance with the US."
